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Abbotsford, BC
Canada
13 Posts |
Posted - 07/15/2012 : 10:51 PM
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First TR, sorry it's almost 3 weeks since the trip!
A friend and I decided that we would do the Markhor/Needle Traverse on June 30th, or at least go check it out. Woke up to pouring rain in Abbotsford, and the forecasts for Hope and Merrit called for rain all day. We almost called it off but headed out anyways to have a look. The deluge finally let off around Box Canyon and we started the trip in the fog at 9:00AM. We roughly followed the route CJB and Spectrum suggested in their post. The initial "bushwack" was covered in fairly hard snow, so we made good time across the slabs, to the bowl and up the ramp.    
From here the ridge was fairly dry and we continued up the ledges to Markhor.
Visibility was limited at best, but we found our way down what seems to be the leg eating crack?   
The first crux was descended with little difficulty. We stopped for a quick lunch on bump #2 before continuing on. (Looking Back at Markhor)
I had brought a 30M rope and super light alpine rack along, and we decided to pull it out for crux #2. Placing a #2 Cam and equalizing it with the old piton, I led the pitch, not bothering to place any protection (it was just nice knowing a fall meant pain, not neccessarily death). I belayed Jordan up and we scrambled the fun final ridge section to the summit of Needle.   (The view of the final ridge) (Myself, Jordan, Fog)
   (A final view of Needle, the snow ramp down, and a rough view of the route, left to right)
From there it was easing going down to the still snow covered ridge,and back to the car at 4PM. It was 7 hours round-trip and a great time. |
Edited by - CPeters on 07/15/2012 10:52 PM
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North Vancouver, BC
Canada
1603 Posts |
Posted - 07/16/2012 : 7:37 PM
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| Nice first trip report. This looks like a great trip. I'd like to try it sometime. |
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 | Dru
Mountain Grammar Police
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 Sardonic sandbagging scoundrel, Cascade Climbers lobotomized spraymeister, space blanket flyer, new millennium vulgarian betaboy and friend to all squids
Climbing, a mountain
Canada
∞ Posts |
Posted - 07/16/2012 : 9:08 PM
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My second-favorite scrambling route all time.  Thanks for the stoke. That is indeed the leg-eating crack. |
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Abbotsford, BC
Canada
13 Posts |
Posted - 07/19/2012 : 10:15 AM
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| Dru: What would be your favourite then? |
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Markhor/Needle Traverse
